RSR490 - Duncan Ferguson - Mastering for Vinyl at Voltage Exchange Studio in East Nashville

Recording Studio Rockstars

Lij Shaw

Music

4.8 • 543 Ratings

🗓️ 24 January 2025

⏱️ 137 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Daily planning is crucial for managing a busy studio schedule! Duncan explored the importance of mastering, the impact of technology and AI, and the intricacies of creating a professional sound environment. He shared insights into his workflow, including his unique 'flight plan' approach to daily planning, while also discussing the challenges and rewards of mastering music for vinyl records.

Get access to FREE mixing mini-course: https://MixMasterBundle.com

My guest today is Duncan Ferguson, a mastering engineer based in East Nashville with a true passion for critical listening and collecting all kinds of recordings. Duncan got into mastering naturally and has earned the nickname "the music librarian" from his close friends. Over the years, he's honed his skills to bring music to life across all listening applications.

Duncan's mastering studio, The Voltage Exchange, is all about solving problems for clients. After seeing the shifts in the music industry over the past decade, he's focused on offering solutions for artists, producers, and mixing engineers while making the process as seamless as possible. Duncan believes in collaboration and transparent relationships — he loves having clients present during sessions and sharing his techniques, equipment, and choices to ensure their true vision shines through.

As someone who also collects vinyl, Duncan offers full-service in-house vinyl mastering and disk cutting with a new Sillitoe lathe. Duncan's mastering studio is right nearby me in East Nashville.

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS!

http://UltimateMixingMasterclass.com

https://www.adam-audio.com

https://www.native-instruments.com Use code ROCK10 to get 10% off!

https://www.izotope.com Use code ROCK10 to get 10% off!

https://roswellproaudio.com/

https://www.makebelievestudio.com/mbsi Get your MBSI plugin here!

https://RecordingStudioRockstars.com/Academy

https://www.thetoyboxstudio.com/

Listen to this guest's discography on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4oZdXUCxUBz4sGLa5i1tWp?si=fbd381f435314baf

If you love the podcast, then please leave a review: https://RSRockstars.com/Review

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AT: https://RSRockstars.com/490

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This episode of Recording Studio Rockstars is brought to you by Isotope, native instruments,
0:06.9	Roswell Pro Audio, and Atom Audio. You're hearing my voice right now through the beautiful
0:12.6	Roswell Pro Audio Aztec Tube microphone, mixed through isotope, ozone, RX, and Neutron,
0:20.5	all on atom audio monitors and headphones.
0:23.6	Please check out our awesome sponsors using the links in the show notes.
0:27.2	Also, please remember to like and subscribe to our YouTube channel
0:30.3	because it's a great way for you to help support this show.
0:33.5	Now, get ready to rock.
0:34.8	The biggest thing that I want to say is like,
0:36.2	a vinyl record is literally an analog hard drive. It's just encoded information. Like, the grooves are information that gets encoded in, and then you have to have a playback system to play that back out. So it's, I call it the caveman hard drive. Instead of spinning at, you know, like, what is it, 7,000 in, you know, RPM, it spins at 33 and the third
0:56.2	RPM, you know, or 45. If you just have a disc alone without the encode system and the playback
1:01.4	system, they're useless. Like, you have to have a way to encode it and decode it, just like
1:05.8	we do with computers. It's the same idea, right?
1:18.9	Yeah. It's the same idea, right? Welcome to Recording Studio Rockstars.
1:22.0	I'm Lid Shaw, and this is the podcast created to help you become a rock star of the recording studio.
1:33.7	At Isotope, tone shaping is topping the charts. Meet the Catalyst series. Plasma,
1:40.8	Aurora, and Cascadia. Plasma's flux saturation technology brings dynamic warmth and depth to your mix.
1:48.0	Aurora takes spatial audio to new heights with lush adaptive reverb,
1:53.2	while Cascadia adds exciting delays to your mix,
1:56.7	retaining clarity through its smart unmasking feature.
2:00.2	Get 10% off plasma, Aurora, Cascadia, or any of the Isotope plugins with the special code,
2:06.7	Rock 10, and make your mixes rock at Isotope.com.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Lij Shaw, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Lij Shaw and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.